Alleged Drug Lord Expelled From Haiti

MICHAEL NORTON

Published 8:00 pm, Friday, June 20, 2003

Associated Press Writer

For six years, Jacques Beaudoin Ketant lived the good life in Haiti, buying fancy cars, a mansion and a highbrow education for his children _ out of reach of U.S. authorities seeking him for allegedly heading a cocaine network.

But his sojourn out of U.S. reach ended last week _ abruptly interrupted by a recent brawl at his son's elite private school.

Ketant was expelled to the United States, where he was arrested on charges dating back to a 1997 indictment.

"He's a significant trafficker," Matt Dates, a special counsel for public affairs at the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami, said Friday.

In the five-count indictment for money laundering and drug smuggling, U.S. law enforcement agents described an expansive network in which Ketant arranged for drug couriers to transport cocaine from Central and South America to the United States, sometimes using Haiti as a transshipment point.

After setting up part of the operation in Miami, Ketant left in disguise in 1996 for his home country, Haiti, the indictment said.

Here he has lived since, flaunting his wealth in a massive hilltop mansion protected by security cameras that overlooks Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. He was regularly seen driving his black Hummer and Mercedes all-terrain vehicles.

The public appearances remained steady even after his face flashed across U.S. television screens in 2001 during a segment on America's Most Wanted.

Last year, Ketant, now 40, helped build a carnival grandstand in front of the presidential National Palace and took part in the festivities.

It's unclear why, given his ostentatious lifestyle, officials did not capture him before. Both Dates and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Joe Kilmer in Miami declined to comment.

Relations between the United States and Haiti have been turbulent since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party swept 2000 legislative elections that observers said were flawed.

Since then, some U.S. legislators have accused senior Haitian government officials and police officers of involvement in drug trafficking.

Haiti's police force began closing in on Ketant this year, killing his brother during a drug raid. But it wasn't until the brawl last month at the Union School _ attended by Ketant's son and nephew _ that Haitian authorities moved quickly to hand him over to the United States.

The school's students include the children of government ministers and U.S. and other diplomats.

At a school party, Ketant's nephew was angered when a girl who rejected his advances, so he allegedly beat up a rival boy and shoved him in the trunk of a car, a parent said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

A security guard stopped the nephew at the school gate. Police freed the beaten boy and wanted to arrest his assailant, the parent said.

In no time, Ketant arrived with a throng of armed police, who forced their fellow officers to free the nephew, the parent said.

The principal, who has refused all comment, expelled the nephew along with Ketant's son and daughter, the parent said. Ketant again showed up at the school and threatened the principal, who then called the U.S. Embassy for help.

"In view of the perceived breakdown of security, the U.S. Embassy quickly offered the school a couple of our local security guards for a few days," said embassy spokeswoman Judith Trunzo.

Haitian authorities then ordered Ketant's expulsion, Dates said. A diplomat in Haiti said Haitian police detained Ketant and put him on a chartered plane to Miami, where U.S. authorities took him into custody Tuesday evening.

It was not clear if there was a connection between the brawl and the expulsion. The government didn't give a reason, but said the expulsion "showed Haiti was prepared to help in the fight against drug traffickers."

"We had arrest warrants on Ketant before the (school) incident," Trunzo said.

Now Playing:

If convicted, Ketant faces more than 20 years in prison. Trunzo said there has been no letup in the flow of drugs through Haiti. Some 8 percent of cocaine and 15 percent of all drugs transported to the United States last year came through Haiti, she said.